The present disclosure is related generally to the field of orthodontics. More particularly, the present disclosure is related to virtual cephalometric imaging.
Cephalometric analysis is the study of dental and skeletal relationships used by treatment professionals such as dentists and/or orthodontists as a treatment planning and/or evaluation tool using cephalometric imaging. Cephalometric imaging can include images such as X-rays, magnetic resonance images (MRI), computer aided tomography (CAT) scans, etc. Cephalometric imaging (and the analysis thereof) may be performed before, during, and/or after treatment of a patient.
A treatment professional may create cephalometric images of a patient's dentition and/or head. To compare a first and a second (e.g., a “before” and an “after”) image, the treatment professional may apply a template (e.g., a plastic template) with outlines of teeth to a physical print of the first image. In some instances, both the image and the template may be on a 1:1 scale with the geometry of the patient's dentition. The treatment professional may modify (e.g., physically) the template to correlate the image.
The treatment professional may apply the template to the second image of the patient's dentition and/or head (e.g., physically place the template on a print of the second image). The treatment professional may select a number of features from the first image (e.g., a molar and an incisor) to outline and/or trace (e.g., with a pen) onto a second image (e.g., the “after” X-ray) using the template. After tracing the number of features from the first image to the second image, the treatment professional can compare changes to the patient's dentition resulting from treatment.
For instance, the treatment professional may study relationships between cephalometric landmarks such as nasion, orbitale, point A, point B, pogonion, menton, gnathion, sella, porion, and gonion, etc. to determine various dental measurements such as overjet, overbite, tooth projection, tooth inclination, etc. as will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The cephalometric analysis described above can be aided with the use of a computing device and digital copies of cephalometric images to help calculate angles and measurements.